Finger cot eraser



Feb. 21, 1956 H. M. PARSONS FINGER COT ERASER Filed Oct. 26, 1953INVENTOR jr M VFW United States Patent FINGER COT ERASER Henry M.Parsons, New York, N. Y., assignor to Psychological Research AssociatesCorp., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October26, 1953, Serial No. 388,273

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-227) The invention relates to means of erasing marksfrom selected areas, such as china-marking or grease pencil marks on aradarscope during plotting operations.

It is conventional to use lint or rags and the like for wiping offtemporary marks on a radarscope during plotting operations. Thispractice is unsatisfactory not only because of the nuisance ofrepeatedly putting down and refinding the erasing material but alsobecause of the difficulty of wiping off particular grease marks quicklyand yet accurately when new ones are to be substituted. The difiicultyis in wiping oif a particular mark without erasing or blurring closelyadjacent marks, both of which are important for purposes of maintainingan accurate running plot.

In accordance with my invention these difliculties are overcome by useof a special finger cot which has grease absorbent material on theoutside, and a generally U- shaped stiffener member extending around theprojecting end of the finger in the cot to reinforce a limited portionof the absorbent material. By moving the cot in a direction normal tothe plane of the U-shaped stiffener a wide path of erasure is obtained,by moving the cot parallel to the plane of the stiffener a narrow pathof erasure is obtained, and by moving the cot at various intermediateangles to its travel the width of the path of erasure may be selectivelyvaried. The cot is easy to operate, and it is inexpensive to manufactureand can be freely discarded after the absorbent material on both sidesof the cot have become saturated with the material erased.

Other objects, details and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description and in the accompanying drawingin which I have shown, for purposes of illustration only, a presentpreferred embodiment of my invention. In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a finger in an erasure cot embodyingthe invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the finger and cot shown in Figure l, inlarger scale and with the cot shown in section;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the cot;

Figure 4 is an end view of the cot, taken from the right end of Figure3;

Figure 5 is front end view of the cot; and

Figure 6 is a side view of the cot.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, and initially to Figures1 and 2, a finger 10 is shown inserted in a cot 11. The cot consists ofa fabric inner body 12, shaped like a bag to receive closely the end ofthe finger 10, and an outer covering 13 of a thick wooly materialsecured to the body 12 and having good grease absorbing capacity, suchas cotton or wool pile or tuft fabric. A U-shaped, relatively stiffmetal wire 14 extends between the fabric body 12 and the covering 13,and is secured to the body 12 by suitable gluing or threading (notshown). The wire 14 lies in a plane generally parallel to the fingernail15 of finger 10, and extends closely around the finger 10 below thelevel of the fingernail 15 so that the wire stifiens the outer cover 13where the end of finger 10 normally exerts its greatest pressure on theouter cover 13. By turning finger 10 the wire 14 can be made to extendbroadside-on to the direction of movement of finger 10 during an erasingoperation, or edgewise relative to such movement. In the first case abroad erasure is made, and in the second case a narrow erasure is made.By varying the amount of turning of the finger 10 any intermediate widthof erasure is readily obtainable.

While I have illustrated and described a present preferred embodimentand practice of the invention, it will be recognized that the inventionmay be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope ofthe following claim.

I claim:

A finger-cot for controlled erasure of a grease pencil mark and thelike, comprising an inner body of soft material shaped like a bag to fitclosely around a finger, an outer covering of grease-absorbent materialsecured around the closed end of the inner body, and a generallyU-shaped stifi wire with its central portion extending between theclosed end of the inner body and the said outer covering in position tobe pressed against the outer covering by the end of a finger in the cot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,200,596 Daly Oct. 10, 1916 2,684,076 Smith Sept. 11, 1928 2,253,710Jones et al. Aug. 26, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 29,030 Great Britain of 1904

